A natural outgrowth of Notre Dame’s Irish-American background was to establish a permanent presence in Ireland. In 1998, this was realized through the establishment of the Keough Naughton Notre Dame Centre in Dublin. The Centre was initially based in Newman House, courtesy of a partnership agreement with University College Dublin. Newman House is indelibly associated with John Henry Cardinal Newman, the galvanizing force in founding the Catholic University there in 1852. Because Notre Dame embodies Newman’s vision of blending faith and intellect, locating the Dublin program here was a form of homecoming, a return to the living roots of the Notre Dame tradition.
Notre Dame Dublin, O'Connell House
Number 58 Merrion Square was home to the celebrated early nineteenth-century Irish Catholic political leader, Daniel O’Connell. Known as “The Liberator,” O’Connell led the battle for Catholic Emancipation, achieving full civil rights for Irish Catholics in 1829.
Notre Dame acquired the building in 2002 and spent the next two years restoring O’Connell House sensitively, preserving its heritage while meeting the academic, programmatic and administrative needs of the University in Ireland. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, officially opened O’Connell House in 2004.
O’Connell House embodies all the elegance, charm and heritage of a characteristic Dublin Georgian building. It is full of superb Irish art, artifacts, and period furniture for students and visitors alike to explore. A Harry Clarke stained glass window is the focal point of Saint Patrick’s Chapel, while the O’Connell Room boasts an outstanding collection of the works of Seamus Heaney. O’Connell House is home to two more libraries: the Friel Library—generously donated by Anne Friel, his wife, in 2019—and the Nanovic Library—an extensive collection of resources in Irish history, literature, and culture for student research.
Since 1998, Notre Dame Dublin has given our students the chance to study in the land of Joyce, Yeats, and Heaney. It has allowed them to experience a new Ireland – prosperous, increasingly diverse and (through the work of its artists, intellectuals and political leaders), increasingly influential in emphasizing human rights, peacemaking, and helping a world in need.
Notre Dame Dublin is the foundation of an expanding network of Notre Dame initiatives in Ireland, capitalizing on strong partnerships with the country’s top universities, cultural and governmental institutions, and private enterprise organizations.
Notre Dame Dublin’s priority areas of collaboration and research interest are in Irish studies; environmental science, engineering, education, and policy; and international STEM research collaborations through the Naughton Fellowships.
Notre Dame Kylemore
Located in the Connemara region in the west of Ireland, Notre Dame Kylemore hosts ND students and faculty as they contemplate, research, and learn in a quintessentially Irish setting. Surrounded by dramatic landscape in the Connemara region, the Centre offers an idyllic setting to bring together scholars and students, Americans and Irish, the Church and academia. The Centre is located in an active Benedictine monastery and offers a true Irish immersion—opportunities to connect with the local community, to experience the culture, and to understand the history—all while living, studying, and praying within a faith-enriched space.
Founded in 2016, Notre Dame Kylemore is equipped with a 16-room residence hall, dining facilities and communal space, and is a frequent host to groups and individuals who wish to experience the richness of Ireland.
Newman Centre for Faith and Reason
The University of Notre Dame has served as steward to the Newman University Church in Dublin since 2017, and has founded there the Notre Dame–Newman Center for Faith and Reason. Built by the Blessed John Henry Newman, then-rector of University College Dublin, the church opened in 1856 and has since been an iconic landmark in Dublin’s city center and a testament to the harmony of faith and reason.